To See the Sun Smile: Part 7 (1/2)

[zeffyface]

DISCLAIMER: All of The Legend Of Zelda Characters and Places belong to Nintendo, and maybe some other equally important organizations/people. They are not, nor have ever been mine. I just write silly fics.

Er, hey guys. Hopefully the LJ crowd is used to me by now, but...yeah. Hope your last year was lovely!
For Muse, sometimes I forget that we started talking after chapter 2 and not from the very beginning. It feels like this whole thing should've been for you in the first place.


Part Seven


Respite


The dust in the colossus smelled cleaner than that of the Shadow Temple, but was no less annoying. It settled over everything evenly without the damp cling of decay, but instead remained so dry that every movement sent small clouds to haze the air. After moving for the fourth time, Sheik called it a lost cause and gave up trying to avoid the trickles of dirt cascading from the ancient ceiling. After the twelfth he stopped brushing it from his wraps and uniform and resigned to polish his dirk a few more times while he waited.

At the twenty third he began to question his reasoning to sit on one of the top hidden ledges in a building clearly needing repair. Permitting himself a soft sigh, he looked down to the dirk and cloth in his hands. The remnants of blood had been cleaned away so long ago that they had turned brown in the fabric, but unless another enemy wished to spring from the stonework he had little else to occupy his time.

Actually, that wasn't true. Even without the equipment to access a good part of the temple or face its host, he still had preparations to go through. The last temple marked the beginning of a chain of events that in turn began the final battles, things he could not before think about lest he hope too strongly. A dozen critical steps to be completed rapid fire that he couldn't begin just yet because that would mean leaving this post. Below him lay the sealed entrance to the outside, and for some reason watching that darkened way eclipsed any reason to move. He gave the room below another glance, both unsurprised and disappointed by its vacancy.

"Are you trying to make a mirror of your blade?"

A mixture of training and utter disbelief kept high-strung reflexes in check at the familiar voice behind him. He turned his head slowly, eyes meeting a pleasant smile framed by a sunned, freckled face. After a long pause, he cleared his voice and nodded as formally as possible while sitting down. "Forgive me; I did not realize I was asleep."

The young woman chucked softly, seated on the edge of the ledge beside him as if it was the most natural thing in the world. There were no tracks in the dust around her, no visible way she could have entered the room without equipment or advanced acrobatics, not one smudge on the white of her outfit. "Perhaps you aren't, then. You seem like the kind who would be very aware of his own being." She smoothed out a crease in her dress and crossed her dangling ankles, toying with a red flower in her lap. "Do you like it? They only grow during the spring."

Sheik felt his eyebrows crease, opening his mouth and closing it once. His mind switched to automatic, eyes traveling to the flower she held for inspection. It was not a species he knew, the auburn color matching the woman's firey hair. He wondered if he would be more or less surprised had he recognized it. "…It is very nice."

The comment merited a nose wrinkle and a chiding glance. "You're only saying that because it follows proper conversation protocol, Sir Sheikah." But there was no heat in her words; she smiled and tucked the flower away behind her ear. "What are you waiting for?"

Somehow he couldn't think of a reason to be anything other than honest. "The Hero will arrive at the temple shortly, I wait for him." He gave the entrance another glance, ignoring the little voice in his head that noted he had been repeating that phrase for the past five hours. Realizing belatedly he had begun to clean his dirk again, he sheathed it as discretely as possible.

If his unexpected companion noticed, she pretended otherwise. Instead she nodded and folded her hands in her lap. "Yes, I suppose you do.” The ends of her hair ruffled in an unfelt breeze as she watched something invisible across the chamber. Beneath his cowl, Sheik could almost believe he smelled the sea. “Children cannot wait long; they have not lived enough to learn how. Memories of years past keep the old ones company in these times. But although one remembers and one is without, they are both souls to be treasured.” Her eyes traveled to him again, her serene hint of a smile never leaving. “But that wasn’t the question I was asking.” At his blank look she shrugged and stood, dusting off her spotless skirt. Sheik stood automatically with her.

The impossibility hovering in the air began prodding him harder. "My Lady-"

"Please don't lose your lyre, Sir Sheikah. I’d like to have accompaniment for a song or two if you find the time." She lifted a hand in a relaxed wave before a thunderous crash sounded from below. Sheik’s head whipped around despite himself - someone had moved the block. A coil of tension he hadn't realized wrapped his chest loosened as he watched the dust stir around the doorway. After a moment he remembered himself and turned back.

There was only air. Where she had stood the dust remained even and unsettled with no prints, as if nothing had disturbed it in an age. He sighed softly and shook his head. "Who are you?"

"Hey, those worked out great! So, maybe we can sit down now, huh? Or have… a snack? Link?"

A faint blue light flickered from the doorway, getting steadily brighter. It was no surprise hearing Navi before seeing her, but Sheik's eyes narrowed at the thinly veiled desperation in the fairy's voice. He stepped back, letting the shadow of the temple pillars hide him out of habit while he watched. After a moment he could hear the familiar clank of metal equipment, finally followed by a green figure.

Stomping out the relieved sigh that was for some reason creeping up in his lungs at seeing Link in one piece, he analyzed the hero’s stance. Sagging shoulders, heavy, shuffling steps, head low even as it scanned the room. One gauntleted hand was held protectively to his chest, cradled from too much movement. Sheik frowned, brushing his bangs from his face to better watch as Navi continued to ramble.

"I'm sure he's fine Link, honest! And then he can give you a fancy lecture for being careless and all that as soon as he gets here! I mean, we aren't even sure that he would... um..."

Her words trailed off as Link crouched down, using his left hand to touch a stain on the floor. Sheik winced as he recognized the patch of wolfos blood from earlier. He had disposed of the bodies to the blowing sands, but blood was harder to clean in a desert. Although why a little stain was so concerning to the hero was... confusing. Certainly he had seen much worse before. Navi cleared her faltered voice and continued.

"Well all right maybe he did, but it's too much to be Sheik's blood so that means he's fine!"

"He was hurt before he came in Navi. He still did it." The weary tone and strain in Link's voice had Sheik taken farther aback even before he processed the words. He was exhausted, that much was clear. A good day and a half had passed since their last meeting, time enough for the hero to return to the Temple of Time and his childhood. He would have traveled to the desert, navigated the temple, faced whatever monsters inside met him, and searched until he found the artifact that enabled him to enter. A long, hard fight even if taken slow.

He certainly couldn't have... no.

"Link?" The little ball of light far below drifted down, resting carefully on the hero's still outstretched hand. "I know you're worried. But you're... you're kind of scaring me, okay? Can you sit for just a second and I'll look around the room? I can do the high parts and I'll be right back, and it’ll be faster anyway.” Link ceased his examining of the floor and lifted his head, although it was impossible to see his expression from the angle. Navi's tone turned quiet, and Sheik leaned forward despite the uselessness of the action. "Just for a little bit, okay? Please?"

There was a moment of silent staring before Link let his head drop. "You're right Navi, I'm sorry. Go ahead, I'll wait here."

The blue light hopped into the air, shining brighter. "And sit down?"

"…And sit down." Sheik could hear the rueful smile in the weary voice and felt his lips quirk faintly in response.

"And maybe drink a little something, and-"

"Navi."

"Okay, okay, I'm going." She swirled once around his head and then began to drift up in an outward spiral, scanning the room. True to his word, Link dropped from his crouch to sit in one graceless movement, not bothering to move from his spot on the floor. Sheik wondered when his innards would stop twisting in painful knots at the sight. He quietly stepped to the edge of his platform, waiting for Navi to take notice in her trek about the enormous room.

On cue, he saw her flight falter just slightly, then pick up as if normal. She began to circle even higher, in the upper sections hidden from Link's view. Finally she orbited to the ceiling, swinging wide until making it to the ledge. Sheik stepped back and Navi joined him after a quick check down, drifting by his shoulder to murmur.

“I… talk to him. You’ve gotta, Sheik. He figured out you were going in first again and I tried so hard and,” Her whole body drooped in midair, her normal chipper bobs subdued to a simple hover. “Let him know you’re okay?”

Not trusting his voice while his mouth tasted so strongly of guilt, Sheik simply nodded. The fairy nodded a little in return and then floated off in her continued ‘checking’ of the room. As her light faded from view he took a slow breath and leapt from his perch to a nearby pillar, to another ledge, to a broken wall, and finally the floor. Each impact made a soft tap that echoed in the chamber - an unspoken signal of his presence. When he finally reached the floor and straightened, he was met with a piercing blue gaze ten yards away.

At this distance Link looked worse than before. He had not moved from the hard stone, his bangs hanging in his eyes to make the shadows below them even more prominent. Even the glint of his silver gauntlets had been dulled with dust and dirt, his right hand still cradled against his tunic. "Hero..."

"Are you hurt?" Link's question came out rushed, as if escaping against his wishes. He looked away quickly, brushing the hair out of his eyes and looking more like a lost child than a legendary warrior. Something deeper than reason coaxed Sheik to move, nudged his feet to walk slowly forward.

"I am not the one we should be concerned with, Hero. But I am unhurt." His voice too appeared to be guided by some invisible source, dropping to a mild, almost gentle tone. When he reached the sitting figure he paused, uncertain. Link turned back, tired eyes searching for the truth in the statement before glinting with an unbidden smile of relief. It was what Sheik needed to go against all he knew and hold out his hand in an offer. "I was however, just preparing for a short rest in your absence. Should you be obliging, I would hear of your success while I do."

His answer prompted a raised eyebrow, but only for a moment before Link chuckled and shook his head. "Yeah, sure." He reached out with his left hand and clasped Sheik's firmly, letting the other help him back to his feet.

Not wanting to have the hero walk far while he was uncertain of his state, Sheik settled on a small alcove against a nearby wall. He reached for Link's elbow and gave it a soft pull to show the direction before walking over, but stopped when the other did not follow. "Hero?"

He glanced back to Link, who shook his head from where he has staring at his sleeve with a far-off look. "Nothing, sorry." Sheik shrugged mentally, letting it pass but filing it away.

With a nod, he continued over to the wall and waited for Link to join him before sitting. It wasn't much, but the protruding stonework served as a suitable bench. Link carefully removed his shield with his good arm before sitting a few feet away and leaning back against the wall with a soft sigh. Sheik watched his movements, trying to figure out what could be wrong that would not have been fixed already. Certainly a cut to his hand would have been bandaged with potion and ignored after healing, not favored like this. "I see you acquired new gauntlets."

"Hmm?" Blue eyes cracked open from where they had drifted closed. "Oh, yeah." He held one out for inspection, the silver glinting with hidden magic. "Nabooru helped me out getting them. I manage to steal a lot of precious ancient artifacts without getting in trouble, actually." He paused at some unpleasant memory, and then smiled sadly. "Well, not the usual kind of trouble anyway."

Sheik nodded, realizing belatedly that Link had most likely witnessed the cause of Nabooru’s sudden disappearance seven years ago if they were thinking of the same Gerudo. He winced, deciding to force the subject elsewhere. "And what kind of trouble did your hand run into?"

A sheepish chuckle answered him as Link looked down, rubbing the back of his neck with his good hand. "I was wondering when you'd get to that one. It's not life threatening, at least."

Sheik met the pause unblinking. "But?"

Link sighed, stance drooping. "I... can't straighten it myself."

It took a bare moment for Sheik to understand the meaning, his eyes widening. He shook his head quickly to clear away the shocked horror of the realization, silently thanking Impa for forcing him to learn how to treat his own wounds. Carefully, he slid across the bench until there was a bare foot between them and held out his hand. "May I? I will only touch your palm."

The hero took a slow breath and met Sheik's gaze, searching for a few moments before his arm slowly uncurled. He placed his hand gingerly in the bandaged palm, leaving the fingers to extend in the air. With great willpower Sheik tore himself from those blue eyes and looked down, examining. Even through the leather, he could tell the index finger had bent in an angle it should never go. He kept his voice controlled, speaking softly. "This looks like the second segment. I can straighten it and heal it after it is set, but the gauntlet will have to come off for me to do so."

"And enchanted gloves means only one way to remove them?" The hand in his was shaking faintly; Sheik resisted the urge to hold it closer and nodded.

"I am afraid so Hero. Taking potion now would heal the bone incorrectly. May I?" He waited for Link to nod and close his eyes before taking a level breath. "Then bite down on my shoulder."

Second Half